We Need to Talk About Kevin

Eva never really wanted to be a mother, and certainly not the mother of a boy who ends up murdering seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage, in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

You can probably skim over the first 70 pages or so and not miss much. The narrator tends to use unnecessary "big" words to explain things, which to me came off as somewhat pretentious; and literally none of the characters are likable. All that being said, We Need To Talk About Kevin eventually becomes an interesting, worthwhile read.

While I did occasionally get annoyed at the narrator, this book kept me reading well into the night. It really got me thinking and the ending shocked me. I liked seeing the progression of Kevin (and his mom-the narrator) over the years. I also appreciated the back and forth from the present day to the past. It probably could have been edited better, but overall a good read.

Disturbing novel about a mother - who has reservations about having a child - and a son she eventually has who does not get the attention he deserves -the resultant consequences can be devastating.
Very well written novel; written by the perspective of the mother as she was writing to her husband about what lead to the boy in predicament. Does she believes it's her fault for not being the mother she should have been?

I almost gave up in the beginning ( too many descriptive phrases and words- not enough action) but hung in there till the end. Very well written.

A teenage boy goes to his school one day and kills 7 students and 2 adults. Why? This compelling story told through a series of letters written by his mother to her husband explores her feelings and relationships with her son and her family. The book on CD also includes an interview with the author.

Formatted as letters written to her husband a year later, this is the painful and reflective voice of a mother recognizing what went wrong when her teenage son methodically plans and kills 9 people at his high school.

I was ready to bring this book back to the library. The way this woman writes letters to her husband and the words she uses reminded me of watching Dawson's Creek when I was younger - people in read life do not talk like this. As the story goes on, I sort of warmed up to her, she isn't the perfect mother. She wasn't horrible either - how could her children turn out so completely different from each other - they were born like that. Why do I think he spares his mother that Thursday? Because she is the only one who has ever known the real Kevin, who has seen him for who he really is not someone they want him to be.

This is a well written novel done in an epistolary fashion. Though ostensibly about her psychopathic son the broader look of the novel is American culture, parenthood and relationships. Very well crafted and an interesting read.